Divine Descent (Avatāra)
When righteousness fails, God is born into the world — descending, age after age, to set it right.
Avatāra means 'descent' — the coming-down of God into the world in a living, embodied form. The Bhagavad-gītā gives the doctrine its classic statement: whenever righteousness declines and disorder rises, the Lord takes birth, age after age, to protect the good and restore the right. Vaiṣṇava tradition counts a famous series of such descents of Viṣṇu — among them the man-lion, the dwarf, Rāma, and Kṛṣṇa — the 'ten avatāras.' The idea grounds an intimate theology: the infinite Lord makes himself accessible, born among his creatures.
How it traveled
- Bhagavad-gītāKuru-Pañcāla region · -150explains
Key passages(3)
For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of Dharma, I come into being in every age.
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Whenever, O descendant of Bharata, there is decline of Dharma, and rise of Adharma, then I body Myself forth.
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